The invention relates to a bottle accessory for application with a cap to a bottle by using conventional capping machines, while permitting the cap to be later detached from the bottle with the accessory retained within the bottle. The invention is particularly useful for applying a retractable spout assembly to bottles, and is therefore described below with respect to such an application.
The present invention is especially useful in the retractable spout assemblies disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,026,994 and 6,976,610, the contents of which are hereby incorporated reference.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,994 describes a retractable spout assembly for application to the neck of a bottle to be closed by a cap. The assembly includes a sleeve-like housing fixedly receivable within the bottle neck, and a spout movable within the housing from a retracted position, when the housing is fixed within the bottle neck and the bottle neck closed by the cap, to an extended position projecting outwardly of the housing and the bottle neck for pouring out contents of the bottle. To make the spout automatically extendible upon removing the cap, the assembly further includes a spring biasing the spout to its extended position. Such a spring could be omitted, whereupon the spout would be manually movable to its extended position with or after removal of the cap. An air-return passageway is provided for returning air into the bottle when its liquid contents are being poured out through the spout.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,610 describes improvements in the construction of that retractable spout assembly which not only make the assembly more compact in construction and more reliable in operation but, by including a connector disc, also enable the assembly to be accommodated by existing bottle-capping machines so that virtually no change is required in such expensive machines to enable them also to be used for applying caps incorporating retractable spout assemblies.
A drawback found to exist in the construction described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,610 is the possibility that, after the cap and spout assembly have been applied to the bottle, removal of the cap with the connector disc may also tend to pull out the spout housing from the bottle.